What’s Old GM is New Again: Ignition Recall Gets More Flak, Lawsuits Could Be Blocked

The Feds have now launched a twofold investigation into the matter. One comes from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which in a 107-point memo demands GM turn over every related document or else risk the wrath of federal lawyers and a $35 million fine. The other is from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which will subpoena GM executives and NHTSA officials “in the coming weeks.” That’s on top of GM’s internal investigation in which it will try to understand why it buried a serious problem that had been known for a decade.

To recap: 1.62 million Chevrolet Cobalts, Pontiac G5s, Chevrolet HHRs, Saturn Ions, Saturn Skys and Pontiac Solstices between 2003 and 2007 were recalled worldwide last month. Their ignition switches can rotate out of the “run” position to the “off” or “accessory” position without warning, shutting down the engine and all power accessories necessary for safe control of a speeding car. The airbags and any electronic safety equipment can also be disabled, which is a main reason why there are at least 13 related deaths.

A recent New York Times article revealed the NHTSA’s failure to launch any investigation in the past 10 years despite receiving more than 260 complaints of GM models that reportedly shut off while driving. The Times story—along with the suddenly rapt response from the NHTSA—was propelled by GM’s own admission to the agency that it had first discovered the problem in 2004, sent out some dealer bulletins, fixed a few hundred cars, changed the part on later models without telling the public, and blamed short people and anyone with extra stuff on their key chains. According to Automotive News, GM even bought back at least 12 Cobalts from owners whose dealers couldn’t fix their cars. Our own Jeff Sabatini, then a reporter for the New York Times, wrote in 2005 that his wife had been driving a Cobalt from GM’s press fleet when it “just went dead” on the highway. Sabatini said he only had the car’s keyless remote and a press fleet tag on the key chain.

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The NHTSA has its own problems—in particular, its rather secretive and random method of how it chooses to escalate or throw out potential safety investigations. We’ve got but two examples (you can search all investigations on safercar.gov). On Feb. 10, the NHTSA opened an investigation on the 2010–2011 Mazda CX9 after only seven complaints of a loss of power braking. In September 2012, the agency opened an investigation on the 2012 Hyundai Elantra following a single complaint. During that same year, GM and the agency knew of at least 19 complaints from owners whose side airbags had inadvertently deployed—including one from a GM engineer who was drifting his Cadillac CTS-V wagon. They wrote off these incidents entirely. With the 2000 TREAD Act—which placed stricter regulations on reporting defects following the Firestone tire debacle on Ford Explorers—the ignition-switch problems shouldn’t have festered this long within the agency itself.

As for the House investigation, we’re not hopeful this Congress can finish anything it starts. Fisker Automotive and the Department of Energy were aggressively chased last year by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for the former automaker’s financial meltdown, yet the committee never published a formal resolution.

Here’s where the real backlash could start. GM, under bankruptcy terms it negotiated with the U.S. government in 2009, isn’t technically liable for anything that happened with its products prior to the filing. Any claims from this recall would therefore be brought to Motors Liquidation Company—the ghost of old GM—which basically has no money to pay out damages for a case of this size. “What is important is taking great care of our customers and showing that it really is a new day at GM,” CEO Mary Barra wrote in a post on GM’s FastLane blog.

What have we learned here, besides GM’s idiotic suggestion that owners remove everything from the key chain, including the car’s keyless-entry fob? The government isn’t all that great at protecting us, and the new GM acts very much like the old GM, no matter if there’s a new lady in charge.